Enhancement Shaman DPS Spec, Builds, and Talents — 12.0.5

In Midnight, Enhancement has seen some major changes to its talent tree, with many core mechanics seeing adjustments alongside a rework to both Hero Trees. Alongside a reduction in the number of available talents, this has had a significant impact on how the spec builds. Our current recommendations are as follows:

• Raid - Totemic provides the strongest single-target option while also bringing cleave and frequent burst. Its 1-minute cooldown timers are also much better suited to current encounters.
• Mythic+ - both trees are viable, depending on key level. Totemic is the most flexible in less organized groups, with a focus on 1-minute burst and large target AoE. Stormbringer leans toward planned routing, with high 2-minute burst and a 5-6 target specialty.

Totemic is firmly ahead in raids, bringing a generalist package of single-target, cleave, and AoE wrapped inside a 1-minute burst profile, suiting it very well to most Midnight Season 1 encounters. In Mythic+, it's a slightly more complicated story, with both trees having their own niche and being equally playable. Totemic is the general recommendation, as 1-minute burst timers and large scale AoE is the easiest to fit into most routes. However, at higher key levels with organized groups, playing around Stormbringer 2-minute cooldowns gives it the highest ceiling, with a specialty for 5-6 target AoE. Below, we have some import codes if you want to jump straight in-game:

Quick Start Import Codes:

The builds listed above are popular recommendations, covering various different loadouts suited to each style of endgame content. Each Talent Build will have it's own rotation, and can also be manipulated further for specific types of content and to better benefit your group.

Combat Information

Rotations and Mythic+

Want to dive deeper? These guides will teach you how to utilize our Talent Builds in endgame content!

RotationMythic+

The Enhancement Apex Talent, Storm Unleashed, focuses on Crash Lightning while also providing some extra passive bonuses to core parts of the toolkit. These lean heavily into making it a core rotational button, and all points are used in most builds, providing good single-target and AoE benefits:

• Storm Unleashed - Grants each stack of Maelstrom Weapon spent a 2% chance to cause your next Crash Lightning cast to ignore its cooldown. Additionally, the Crash Lightning weapon enhancement buff can now stack and overlap.
• Storm Unleashed - Increases the damage dealt by Maelstrom Weapon spenders by 7.5%, and weapon imbue damage by 10% per point.
• Storm Unleashed - Causes Crash Lightning to also create a static pool, dealing an additional 100% of the initial cast's damage over 2 seconds. Additionally, the weapon enhancement buff grants 15% increased auto-attack speed per stack.

Even just the first point solidifies Crash Lightning as a core part of the rotation at all target counts, adding an extra proc to react to. Since it allows for the effect to overlap, it means it's hard to waste the procs by refreshing, the only real way to misplay it is to not press it at all. The follow-up points are largely passive increases - though they affect things that we use so frequently that there's a lot of value in each point.

Enhancement has two distinct Hero Talent choices available that, as covered in the above sections, drastically alter your build choices and gameplay loop depending on your selection.

This tree grants access to Tempest, a powerful proc that empowers your next Lightning Bolt. This can happen randomly when spending Maelstrom Weapon, converting it into a huge AoE burst tool. Additionally, this Hero Talent provides the following:

• Supercharge provides an additional method of refunding Maelstrom Weapon, causing it to cycle resources much faster.
• Conductive Energy applies a debuff to targets hit with your spenders, converting a portion of damage dealt into extra damage. This allows it to deal additional funnel to key targets when active.

This orients Stormbringer strongly around our resource gameplay, rewarding good management and cycling with explosive burst. It's able to leverage a variety of tools to cleave without any single-target loss, but can be prone to bad RNG streaks.

Conversely, Totemic focuses strongly on Lava Lash through the Hot Hand effect, while also granting access to a new cooldown, Surging Totem. This pulses AoE damage while active, and also links into a number of different abilities for bonus effects.

• Splitstream causes Lava Lash to also trigger Sundering while Hot Hand is active, which through Earthsurge also causes your Surging Totem to pulse.
• Totemic Rebound also causes your Surging Totem to deal additional damage whenever you cast a Maelstrom Weapon spender, amplifying future damage it deals until it expires.

This adds an extra cooldown that aligns with Doom Winds into the Enhancement toolkit. When paired with other options on the tree, it gives it some potent options to deal with 30-second and 1-minute burst timers, while dealing strong priority damage without any sacrifices to cleave or AoE.

"War Mode" is an optional feature that enables open-world PvP encounters that confers some benefits when active:

• Grants access to PvP talents in the open world.
• 10% increase in World Quest rewards at max level.
• 10% more experience gained while leveling.
• Earn Conquest Points which can reward gear every week.

With the benefits of War Mode for leveling and PvE content, it is an optional way to maximize your leveling speed and reward potential. However, you will open yourself up to open-world PvP, so be aware of hostile enemy players who could interfere with you; this is a risk you will have to decide on your own if you want to take.

Generally, these selections are made to optimize your ability to kill enemies faster, increasing your pace when moving through content.

• Shamanism allows for more liberal Bloodlust / Heroism usage without, having to worry about the 10-minute lockout. Great for solo and duo content.
• Burrow gives you an emergency escape if you get into trouble with a 2-minute cooldown, and also deals massive Physical damage when you emerge from the ground.
• Counterstrike Totem copies the damage you take and repeats it onto the enemy that dealt it, allowing you to return the favour against dangerous enemies!

Static Field Totem, Unleash Shield, Electrocute, and Grounding Totem have very limited PvE uses, being more focused on in-combat control. While these are very strong for some situations, they are much more suited to PvP engagements, and as such, are not recommended for efficient enemy killing.

Wordup

Guide Author

Follow Wordup

This guide has been written by Wordup, a frequent theorycrafter involved in a number of class communities. He is also an experienced player who has been in the world top 100 since the days of Sunwell, currently raiding in Echoes. You can follow him on Twitter.